Charles L. Reardon, 93

CENTERVILLE — Charles L. Reardon, 93, died peacefully in his sleep at his home on Dec. 23, 2012.

capecodtimes.com

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Posted Jan. 27, 2013 at 2:00 AM

Posted Jan. 27, 2013 at 2:00 AM

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CENTERVILLE — Charles L. Reardon, 93, died peacefully in his sleep at his home on Dec. 23, 2012.

He was born Nov. 2, 1919, in New York City, in the Bronx to Lillian and Charles. As was common in the Depression, he began working at age 12 to help the family. At age 15, his father died in an accident so he left school and became responsible for the care of his mother and two sisters by working at Zimmermann's grocery store. After learning plumbing and electrical skills through various jobs, he became a tool and die maker.

While still in his teens, he met the love of his life, Anna Goeb, at a gymnastics club they both attended. They married in October of 1941. They were expert dancers and competed in the famous Harvest Moon Ball in Madison Square Garden, placing second, quite an honor. Charles also had an excellent voice and sang in a band.

Soon after the war in the Pacific broke out, he was attached to the Navy as a machinist and took a troop ship over to Pearl Harbor where he worked until the end of the war. Ann had to remain in San Francisco for about 6 months, but finally was able to join him there assisting in the war effort by painting radium on instrument panels for fighter planes.

After the war they returned to New York where Charles made a choice that was to change his life: he decided to go to work at IBM, at that time a fast-growing but fledgling corporation. Through hard work and his innate intelligence and skill, he rose rapidly through the ranks, quickly entering management. In 1950, he and Ann had their first child, Chris, followed by Maureen 6 years later. They left Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to move to Lexington, Ky., following a promotion. Their third child, Kevin, was born there in 1959.

Boldly accepting an offering to manage a production plant, he and the family moved to Holland in 1961 where they stayed until 1966. During this time, they took good advantage of living in Europe, and travelled with the family each summer to many countries, including Switzerland, Italy, Greece, and Egypt; his business trips took him to all European countries, India and Japan.

In 1966, the family moved back to the states and settled in Stamford, Conn., where he worked at World headquarters. But just a few years later, in 1969, he took another assignment in Europe and the family (minus Chris, who was studying at Boston College) moved to Madrid, Spain. They returned to the states in 1971 and eventually moved to Los Gatos, Calif., near San Jose where Charles worked until he retired in 1981. They considered retiring in Makaha, Hawaii, but he and Ann loved going to Carmel every weekend and eventually moved to the place of their dreams to a home with an ocean view of Point Lobos.

With the arrival of their first grandchild, Katelyn, in Boston, Charles and Ann decided they needed to move closer to Maureen and her family. They soon packed up for the last time and moved to Centerville on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, where they lived happily until Ann's death in early 2011. They loved the Hyannis Yacht Club, the local beaches and the waters surrounding the Cape.

Charles leaves behind his children, Chris, Maureen and Kevin, as well as two grandchildren, Katelyn and Kevin. He will be sorely missed by us all, but we are comforted by the knowledge that he had a fantastic life, a strong marriage that lasted for 70 years, and lived independently and undiminished in wit and intelligence until the day he died.

Please join our family at a gathering in a celebration of his life from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, at our Centerville home with tributes and eulogies at 3:30 p.m. Come enjoy some food and wine and share the great memories, photos, music, and memorabilia of his full life.